Brian Eugenio has had a bit of $10K success including a Top 8 at $10K LA and a tenth place finish at $10K New York. Aaron Breider is a member of the Michigan-based RIW Hobbies who has had some $10K success of his own, with a Top 8 at $10K Columbus last year. He showed up to this match wearing the greatest pajama pants in the world, though that isn’t the reason I really wanted the feature match. “So how did we get this feature match anyway?” Aaron wondered. After I explained to him that they were both 3-0 with really cool decks, he actually seemed a little upset. “I thought it was my pants,” he said with a frown.
Turn 1 started with Brian playing a Shadow Creatures. Aaron matched this with a Soldiers of New Genesis. Brian passed his attack and Aaron sent his Soldiers into the hot zone. Go Army! Aaron opened on turn 2 with a Lois Lane, which netted him a Superman, Blue. He dropped another Soldiers, also, and passed the turn. Brian’s Shadow Creatures army doubled in size. Since Brian had no visible characters, Aaron was able to send his team straight at Brian’s face.
On turn 3, Brian recruited a Superman Robots, which prompted a confused stare from Aaron. Despite his apparent unwillingness to accept that Superman would side with the likes of the Anti-Matter, Aaron continued the turn by recruiting a Superman, Red. Brian sent one of his Creatures in at the newly recruited Red, and thanks to an Ole!, the ninjas took the Man of Steel down. He then sent his Robots in at one of Aaron’s Soldiers. Then in a flurry of plot twists, the Soldiers got big (really big) and managed to stun the Robots without getting stunned. This left things open for Aaron to send his remaining team in to bash Brian’s face. At the end of this turn, Aaron was ahead on endurance 46 - 34.
Aaron kicked off the action on turn 4 by recruiting another Red and yet more Soldiers of New Genesis. Brian decided to party like it was 1999 and teamed his men up with Millennium. He then boosted out another Robot. Aaron sent three of his Soldiers in at one of Brian’s Robots. He followed that attack up by sending his Cosmic Red in at the other Robots. The imitations were no substitute for the originals and crumbled before their creator. Aaron then sent his remaining team in straight at Brian. Aaron had taken a huge lead at this point and was up 42 - 19.
Turn 5, Brian boosted a Robot and played a Shadow Creatures. Aaron followed it up with a Superman, Blue. Brian sent one of his Robots into Aaron’s Red. Aaron took advantage of this time to team-up New Gods and Team Superman with Millennium. He then used Shock Troops to try to get out of the way. Brian was ready, though with an Armies of Qward for a power-up from his bin. Brian had a power-up of his own, though and they both stunned. When Brian tried to send his other Robots into Aaron’s other Red, Aaron decided to fry it with his Blue. Thanks to No Man Escapes the Manhunters, Brian was also able to stun Aaron’s other Red and a Soldiers with his remaining two Shadow Creatures. Unfortunately, this left him with no men and he had no defense when Aaron sent his remaining guys back at him. This left Brian with only a Robots at the end of turn. Aaron was way ahead on endurance at this point with the totals at 32 - 10.
Aaron had a truly impressive turn 6, playing a whopping six Soldiers of New Genesis. Brin had to replace a Phantom Zone in a desperate attempt to find something to play. All his deck coughed up for him was two lonely Shadow Creatures. Aaron sent his Blue in to dismantle Brian’s Robots, and then got to face him for near infinite. “So I only have to do 50 damage,” Brian joked. Brian conceded, and that was it for this round.
Aaron Breider wins.